Hourglass of Stars
by ScherzoVivace
Summary: In 2033, the fate of mankind relies on one girl's hands and the guy who simply wishes to help her. Sci-Fi, drama and romance. NiouxOCxRyoga


Hourglass of Stars

Chapter 1

**Foreign Language**

_Thoughts/non-speech_

In the summer of 2033, a 24-year-old named Kurobana Sera, who was traveling in China, was lost in a big city named Hong Kong. And on top of that, she was surrounded by a group of street thugs.

"**Hand over the money, miss~" **One of the men said.

"**I-I don't have any!" **Sera clenched onto her bag and frightfully stared at the men.

Then suddenly, someone appeared and started knocking down the men. He was strong, fast, and fearless.

"Che, all bark and no bite." He man murmured in Japanese.

"A-Are you Japanese?" She hurriedly asked, relieved that she was saved.

"Huh? Yeah." He answered tersely. "Now, pay up!" He smiled and put his hand out.

"P-Pay?" She blinked.

"Yeah. Since I saved you, I need something in return. Like money. The greens. Mullah. Now hand it over." He said, putting his hand out.

"S-Sorry, I don't have any left on me…"

"Eeh?! But you're a traveler, aren't you?"

"I am, but… I got lost…" She said and hung her head low.

"Man, what a hassle." He clucked his tongue. Then he tried to leave.

"Wait!" Sera desperately grabbed the hem of his shirt.

"Whaaaat."

"Please help me!" She asked, almost yelling.

The man seemed to be in thought. Then suddenly, he pinned her against the wall and whispered in her ear. "Then will you pay it with your body?"

"Wha…!" Sera panicked.

"And why should I help you at all?"

"Please, just help…!" She teared up. As tears began to plop down, the man became frantic, panicking since he had no idea how to deal with women.

"H-Hey, why are you crying?!" He asked, but Sera just kept on crying. "Alright, alright! So stop crying!"

"R-Really?" She sniffled and looked up with puppy eyes.

"Yeah whatever." He snorted. "What do you need?"

"Um… I need a place to hid—er, sleep until I find a job." She said.

"…Fine." He said and sighed.

"Thank you!" She exclaimed and gave him a bear hug, making him red.

"Y-Yeah."

"My name is Kurobana Sera. Nice to meet you!" She smiled, putting her hand out.

"…Niou Masaharu."

So the two walked over to Niou's apartment. It was a bit crammed for more than 2 people to live in; it had one room, with one bed, one sofa, and one bathroom.

"How come you have only a backpack if you're traveling? Ahh~ are you on a backpacking trip?" He asked.

"I-I guess you could say that." She said.

"Then, you're going to sleep on the couch." He said.

"What?!"

"Why? I'm being generous by letting you stay here." He snorted.

"You… you…!" Sera just gapped at this ridiculous man. She thought he was nice. Thought, as in past tense.

"Alright." She finally said. "By the way, where do you work?"

"I work at nanobot mechanics shop attached to a laboratory. I do the repairs and check-ups."

"Wow… so you do have a job."

"What's with that tone."

"Nothing. Do you think I could get a job too, at your place?" She grinned.

"Not that I think of it, we're short on mechanic assistant. To be specific, for my assistant." He said. "It doesn't require that much skill, either. But… I don't think you'd like to take that jo—"

"I'll take it!" She said with sparkling eyes. "And as soon as I get money to rent an apartment, I'll leave!"

"Go ahead, not stopping you." He shrugged his shoulders. "I'll get you to the workplace tomorrow. You don't need resumes or anything, so just get dressed in something comfortable."

"Okay! Thank you!"

3 months in—

"What are you doing, it's too tight!"

"I can't help it, it's so small to begin with!"

"Then take it out!"

"No!"

The two were bickering as they were working on an android that was half-broken down.

"Jeesh, there!" Sera said as she pulled out an extra bolt with her clamp. "See? It's much cleaner!"

"Yeah, yeah, you just got lucky." Niou just took of his gloves and shoved it onto Sera's face. Then someone passed by the window.

Sera gasped and hurriedly went into the back office. Niou thought it was weird—but he had to take care of the customers first.

"How can I help you sir?" Niou greeted as the two opened the door and came in. They were dressed in black—with holsters attached to their belts.

"Have you seen a woman like this?" He help up a picture—and inside, there was none other than Sera. Niou, in a split second decision, had a bad feeling about this.

"People told us that you're with this woman."

'_Crap…!' _Niou began using his intelligent brain.

"Hm… oh I remember, I took her out to dinner once and we kinda, uh yeah. You know what. And couple weeks ago she just disappeared. I met her a month ago." He lied, hoping that they'd buy it, and with Niou's response the men dressed in black suits frowned.

"Where did she go?" They asked.

"Hm… I remember seeing her carry around a little brochure about New York. And she bought a plane ticket too I think?"

"I see." They said and left, taking out their cellphones.

When Niou confirmed the two men drive away in car, he hurriedly went to the office—and found Sera, cramped in the corner, hugging her legs with one hand and clenching her heart with another. She was shivering badly so Niou hurriedly went to her and knelt down.

"Hey, what's wrong?"

Sera didn't answer, but kept on shaking. Her eyes weren't focused.

"Shhh… it's okay, calm down. They're gone." Niou gently hugged her and said.

"Th-They're here… for this…!" Sera kept on shivering and mumbled.

"For what?" Niou let her go and looked at her. Then he noticed that she was clenching onto the necklace pendant that she usually buried under her shirt. Not even he ever saw what that pendant was.

"What is this?" Niou asked.

"I can't let anyone take it… I can't… I have to get it to him…!" She kept on mumbling to herself like a crazy person.

"Sera, look at me." Niou, who got a little scared, called her. "Look!" He raised his voice a little and caught her attention. "You're going to be fine, okay? Now, why were they looking for you?"

"They want to take this from me," said Sera, tightening her grip around the pendant, "and they'll take kill me without hesitation."

"What's so important about the pendant?" He asked.

"…I can't tell you." She said. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be. It must be something that important. Anyhow, since they might still be around, let's just hide out here for now. The apartment's too dangerous." He said and she just nodded. "Come to the storage for a bit?" Niou held her hand and helped her up. They went to the storage together and Niou let her hand go and moved around the boxes.

"This should be safe enough." He grabbed the beam of a shelf that had some boxes on top. He pulled on it, and it popped up and sled open, revealing a dark room.

"We can stay here for now." Niou said, leading her in and turning on the lights.

"You're lucky; because this town's so crowded people rarely pay attention to people around them. If this was in less crowded area like Tsubao you would've been caught easily."

When the room lit up, there was all sorts of high-tech devices and interior design that was completely different from the mechanics shop. There was a big bed, with a refrigerator, dining table, computer system, TV, and a bathroom with shower attached to it.

"Whoa…" Sera was in awe.

"I'll buy some things we'll need. Then we could talk." He said, heading out.

He exited the room and closed the door. Sera was left alone in the big, spacious room. She walked around to observe for a bit and found interesting things on top of a work desk and the shelves: Nanobots.

There were dog, squirrel, rat, spider, shark, and many animal models. She started looking through the blueprints.

Niou was in thought. Why was he going through this much trouble to help her? Sure, she was considered as his good friend now, but it wouldn't have been surprising if he had just threw her away, like he did with many other women in his past.

'_Why…'_ He thought. _'She's definitely not like other girls I sorta played around with in the past… but why!?' _

He ruffled his hair in frustration and opened the door to the secret room. He couldn't believe his eyes.

"Eh…" Sera nervously smiled.

Niou saw it: a nanobot, a parrot model, was on Sera's shoulder. Not only was it a bird model, it was a parrot model, which was the hardest to make!

"Wait…" Niou trailed off. "I don't remember making any bird models." He suspiciously walked over to her.

"A… Ahaha…" Sera nervously laughed.

"This is amazing…" He examined the bird. "Perfect symmetry, natural actions…" He looked at her. "Just what are you."

"Alright. Alright. I'll tell you at least this much." Sera said. "I'm one of the nanobot technician and developer at Nancy Nanobot. Along with my developing team I helped building the company." She said.

"Nancy Nanobot?!" Niou exclaimed. "But that's…! that's…!"

Nancy Nanobot was practically the world's largest nanobot company that control about 50% of the world's technological advancements. They were the ones who produced nanobots, which were made to make people's lives easier, for entertainment and useful purposes.

"I can't tell you much about why I'm being chased and why they're so desperate to get me—but what I can tell you is that the world practically is in my hands right now. In this pendant." She said. "If they find me, and get this—it's all over. Mankind will never be the same again."

Niou just gapped open his mouth and stared at her.

"I need to get this to a man—someone that lives in Shanghai. If he retrieves this, he can successfully destroy the hidden database before Nancy gets it. He's the only one that knows how."

"How come you just don't dispose of it? Like burn it or dump it in the sea or something." He asked.

"Because Nancy will do anything and everything to get this damn thing. She will drain the entire ocean if she has to. Plus, it's made out of obsidiamond."

"What the fuck?! So it existed?"

"Yes. It's virtually indestructible."

"Damn…" Niou sighed and ruffled his hair. "So, what are you going to do now. They're probably searching for you, unless they really bought what I said about you going to New York."

"I'm going to head over to Shanghai in a week. I'll forge a new passport and an ID and I'll start my search there." She said.

"Whoa… whoa… so you're saying, you're going to go? There? In a week? By yourself?"

"Yes." She replied.

Niou thought again. It was too dangerous for a girl like her to travel by herself.

"You want me to go with you?" He asked and she just blinked.

"Is that a question? Of course not, it's too dangerous!" She exclaimed. "I don't want to drag you in this!"

"I don't mind. Plus, it'd be a worthwhile journey for me. And it's less sketchy to travel in two than one." He said.

"No!"

"Come on! How are you going to protect yourself?"

"I know how to shoot."

"Yeah, like what, bricks?"

"Still, it's too dangerous. Niou, just don't get involved in this any further. I already told you too much."

"Well then I'm in this too then." He said and Sera just rolled her eyes.

"Will you ever give up."

"Nope."

Sera sighed. He was going to do it, and it was for real. Even if Sera made him stay, he'd still follow her.

"Why are you doing this?"

"It'll be a worthwhile journey, I told you. Plus, if it's for mankind, I'm up for it." Niou grinned. Sera just looked at him and sighed.

"You better not regret this…"


End file.
